There is a peculiar kind of engine at the heart of "Half Evil" by Tomato Soup, and it runs not on gasoline but on disorientation. The Denver six-piece calls their sound "Motor-Folk," and it fits. The track has the chugging, forward-moving momentum of a vehicle, yet it seems to be driving through a landscape seen in a fever dream, where the signposts are all...

Listening to Harry Kappen's "Be Brave If You Can" is like finding a note someone left for themselves on a foggy bathroom mirror. As the third single from his album “Four”, it’s a quiet turn inward, a personal reminder scrawled in the steam of a hot shower after a long, wearying day. It doesn't shout for revolution in the streets; it suggests one inside...